In The Footsteps Of Fairy Tales And Mythical Creatures

Where I live & work, in the archipelago of Pellinki (in Southern Finland), several authors and artists have been inspired by the local environment, and one above all,  Tove Jansson (1914-2001) , the creator of the popular fairy tale figures, The Moomins (Moomintrolls). I’ve been inspired by many others as well, but I think the Moomins had the biggest influence, with a philosophy that felt comfortable. Fairy tales never seem to stop fascinate adults, although one once in a while seem to think that it is only kids stuff.  The world of escapism plays a big role for many artists. All artist are inspired by somebody else, we all need somebody to look up to, but might not always confess it… Not to forget the comics, I’m a huge fan of old Disney cartoons, and also comics created by Carl Barks, his stories still capture me with their wittiness & humor, so I end up laughing out loud while reading them.

The shadow of a Centaur in Pellinki, true or just a tale?

Snow White And The Three Gnomes (reluctantly cleaning the secret cave)

Most of the fairy tale books I know of are written by adults and even for adults – there must live a little imagination within an adult mind after all…  Trolls, gnomes and all kinds of mythical creatures still live on thanks to creative adults, let’s not forget the Brothers Grimm who tirelessly collected folk tales to something that we all heard of by know all our lives, Little Red riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella to mention a few. What I’ve heard it’s common in Iceland that there are some mythical creatures living under rocks and a little everywhere.  I’m convinced it is healthy to think that there are these “little people” around – as long as we can keep it under control.. 😉  It is said that it takes special skills to see them, and they don’t show them selves to just anybody. Maybe that’s why you haven’t spotted any?  The real Moomins are difficult to see, as they are not much bigger than a matchbox…  I could swear I catch some glimpses of them on a daily basis – or maybe it was an albino mouse – or maybe not..? Besides the Moomins another significant fairy tale series for me  was the “Bland Tomtar och troll” series (Among gnomes and trolls) with the fantasticly enchanting illustrations by John Bauer…

Nordiska Väsen a book with a wonderful feel to the cover and beautful illustrations to the descriptions

Recently, to continue my journey through the fairy tales and myths,  Johan Egerkrans released (in Swedish) the book “Nordiska Väsen” (Nordic Mythical creatures), inspired and dedicated to John Bauer, with clearly John Bauer inspired & peculiar illustrations. I’m in mythical fairy tale heaven…

A Midsummer Nights Dream….

..is what life in the archipelago is all about.. . Almost.
Of course it’s a lot of hard work, and since the peak season is in July, there’s not much time for rest for the local entrepreneurs that work day and night in order to get by during the slow season in January-may…
Never the less, when Finnish schools start, the cottage people withdraw back to the cities and visit us occasionally on weekends. Up ahead this saturday is the Night Of Ancient Bonfires, a kind of celebration to end the summer season.  Some close their cottages for the year and return next spring, others continue to visit once in a while.
This past summer was weather-wise  just awesome, warm soft days, occasional rain showers (no need to water the garden), and August has been just beautiful.  August and September are my favorite months-during weekdays is so quiet at sea, plenty of bird & mammal-life to take pictures of and the air is velvety soft -but not too hot.

Dark evenings call for sitting outside with cozy lanterns and watching the moon and the stars…

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As The Leaves Turn…The last day of indian summer

Autumn foilage it is, as it’s best.  A beautiful explosion of colours, and I’m annoyed every time I go outside & forget to bring the camera…
I want to collect all the leaves, acorns e.t.c. and make something of them, as if I could stop time by just collecting and looking at them, but no, it doesn’t work that way… So I stick to taking pictures instead. They provide me with a great deal of inspiration for my products.

My favourite scenery

The turning of the leaves means that my Studio outdoors isn’t really available anymore…  Today, Friday, Sept 30th we had +20Celcius degrees, something quite unusual. It was the most beautiful day ever, including the sunset that turned everything purple…

I managed to take some photos of my products

A photo session in the magnificent weather

& finish another work project of mine, a felted bag

Felted bag, "Forget Me Not"

Since Autumn is here, it means that my teaching job has started again, I teach mostly felting, but also embroidery and candle making (up ahead). One of the places I work at used to be a school until the 1950’s, the cutest little cottage in a very bucolic environment!

Not a bad place to work at!

Selma, the last known teacher

For now I’ll just have to get used to the indoors when it comes to making my creations and enjoy candle light and the crackling fire place…Not a too bad option either! And once in awhile I’ll just enjoy the stormy weathers, they make me feel so – ALIVE!

Workwise I still have some custom ordered things to produce, once I’m done with them I shall dig in to the Christmassy items…

Those of you living in or visiting Helsinki in the near future, I recommend to go and see Per-Olov Jansson’s exhibition at Hanasaari until Oct 9,2011,  “Arkipelag”, photos from the area of my studio, the archipleago of Pellinge. By the way, he’s the brother of  Tove Jansson, and the Gallery is named after her…
I will try and make it to the exhibition too, I really,really want to see it…

The summer of ’11

The Folk Dance Ladies by my "Superstore" at the local market, with the coolest basket-handbag!

The market season is finally over. It lasted from june to end of september, every Saturday, and in July wednesday evenings. Some customers wished there would be a market day more often, but I don’t think I, or anybody else selling there would survive a more intense market life than it already is… And the peak season is very short – July only. After that the visitors decrease radically.

At the local market people meet, shop and exchange news

It’s been a wonderful summer, it was always fair weather more or less and wonderful people to collaborate with. We even managed to arrange two fashion shows of which you can find some more info about here and here  (sorry, in Swedish only, but the pics are international!), by one of my collaborators at the market. The fashion shows were arranged in July and September.

I’m also involved as a guide at the local museum “Hörbergsgården” as guide which require some guiding ofcourse…

Hörbergsgården Museum, the museum shop & gallery

And there was the little tiny event called “Vintage marknad-markkinat” that was supposed to be a very small scaled event but ended up with so many visitors we almost fainted! We’ll be arranging this event again next summer, but bigger and better. And plenty more sellers!

The Vintage market at Hörbergsgården, featuring my Grandmother's old crank phonograph

This summer season was packed with stuff on my to do-list, plenty are left for later, but I’m happy that I managed to wash a whole sack of local wool before it got too rainy & humid outside. The thing is-the wool needs a lot of space to dry, and indoors is NOT an option… Now I shall only wait for more wool, ordered from a sheep I call “Socks”, du to the white socks (quelle surprise…) on its hind legs… The shearing of the sheep is up next!

washed wool fleece drying by the sauna, and yes, tilted horizons are a part of my trademark! 😉

But now there will be a little less comotion for a few weeks, until I roll up my sleeves for the upcoming challenge – Looking for Santa! 😉 Yes, the Christmas season is closer than you might think!

Rudolph The Rednosed Housemouse